Violent Conflict and the Child Quantity-Quality Tradeoff

Apsara Karki Nepal, Martin Halla and Steven Stillman
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Apsara Karki Nepal: International Center for Integrated Mountain Development

No 11690, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We show that the exposure to war-related violence increases the quantity of children temporarily, with permanent negative consequences for the quality of the current and previous cohort of children. Our empirical evidence is based on Nepal, which experienced a ten year long civil conflict of varying intensity. Our difference-in-differences analysis shows that women in villages affected by civil conflict increased their actual and desired fertility during the conflict by 22 percent, while child height-for-age declined by 11 to 13 percent. Supporting evidence suggests that the temporary fertility increase was the main pathway leading to reduced child height, as opposed to direct impacts of the conflict. This likely occurred because there were more mouths to feed in these households.

Keywords: height-for-age; violence; conflict; quantity-quality model of fertility; Nepal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 H56 J13 O10 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2018-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published online in: Journal of Demographic Economics , 18 December 2023

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Working Paper: Violent Conflict and the Child Quantity-Quality Tradeoff (2018)
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